Air cleaning apparatus

ABSTRACT

An air cleaning apparatus has a wire-basket body with a layer of filter material placed therein against the sidewalls and bottom to define a chamber which communicates with the discharge side of a blower assembly mounted atop a cover which is situated over the upper open end of the wire-basket body and chamber; tensioning type of bolts serve to hold the wire-basket body and cover in assembled condition permitting the apparatus to be moved to selected locations; the intake side of the blower assembly is exposed to atmosphere or atmospheric mist to be filtered in order to pump such atmosphere into the chamber and through the filter material to thereby clean the air of the atmosphere and return such cleaned air to a designated area.

United States Patent McKechnie Mar. 7, 1972 [54] AIR CLEANING APPARATUS Mofi'at ..55/473 U Primary Examiner-Howard R. Caine Attorney-Dale A. Winnie [57] ABSTRACT An air cleaning apparatus has a wire-basket body with a layer of filter material placed therein against the sidewalls and bottom to define a chamber which communicates with the discharge side of a blower assembly mounted atop a cover which is situated over the upper open end of the wire-basket body and chamber; tensioning type of bolts serve to hold the wire-basket body and cover in assembled condition permitting the apparatus to be moved to selected locations; the intake side of the blower assembly is exposed to atmosphere or atmospheric mist to be filtered in order to pump such atmosphere into the chamber and through the filter material to thereby clean the air of the atmosphere and return such cleaned air to a designated area.

4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to apparatus for cleaning air and more specifically to such apparatus capable of cleaning such contaminates as oil mist and grinding dust from the air within an enclosure such as a factory.

In many production facilities employing metal cutting or finishing machine tools, as for example center-type grinding machines, it is accepted practice to provide a flow of coolant (often containing a soluble oil) directed against the workpiece in order to generally flood the workpiece thereby cooling the workpiece and the grinding wheel. In such operations the speed of rotation of the workpiece and the grinding wheel is sufiiciently high to cause a substantial spray or mist to exist about the grinding machine. Such generated mist, because of the air currents within the enclosure of the building, often flow to other adjoining areas and tend to settle on other machine tools and related equipment. The particles of soluble oil and metal or grinding dust" removed from the workpiece not only tend to build up gumlike deposits on such machinery and equipment but also present a serious health problem to personnel within such areas. Attempts to remove such contaminate laden air from the area have not proven to be successful because such prior art structures relied principally on the use of large ceiling-mounted ducts which were intended to exhaust such laden air to the atmosphere externally of the building. However, the oil and particle mist is usually so heavy that it tends not to rise sufficiently high to be attracted by such ceiling-mounted ducts and therefore remains as a deposit forming mist at lower levels in which the personnel are required to breathe.

Accordingly, the invention herein disclosed and described is directed to the solution of the above as well as other related problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention, an air cleaning apparatus comprises a housing including generally vertically directed sidewall portions, a plurality of apertures formed through said sidewall portions, gas-permeable filter means situated within said housing generally against the inner surface of said sidewall portions and defining an internal chamber, a cover situated atop said housing and including an inlet aperture for communication with said internal chamber, a blower assembly carried by said cover and having an intake end and a discharge end, said discharge end being placed in communication with said inlet aperture and said intake end being exposed to an atmosphere to be cleaned of contaminates, and detachable fastening means operatively connected to said housing and said cover for maintaining said housing and said cover in assembled relationship.

Accordingly, a general object of the invention is to provide an improved self-contained air cleaning apparatus effective for cleaning the atmosphere, in any particular area, of contaminates carried by the atmosphere.

Other more specific objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent when reference is made to the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings, wherein for purposes of clarity, certain details may be omitted from one or more views:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an air cleaning apparatus constructed in accordance with the teachings of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken generally on the plane of line 22 of FIG. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken generally on the plane of line 33 of FIG. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary portion, in elevation, of the gridlike basket as, for example, the upper right-hand comer of the gridlike basket of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view taken generally on the plane of line 55 of FIG. 4 and looking in the direction of the arrows; and

FIGS. 6 and 7 each are views similar to FIG. 2 but illustrating further embodiments and modifications of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now in greater detail to the drawings, FIG. 1, in perspective, illustrates the air cleaner assembly 10 as comprising a lower pan l2 and an upper cover 14 secured to each other, as by vertically extending rods 16 and 18 in a manner so as to contain therebetween side enclosure walls 20, 22, 24 and 26 (also see FIGS. 2 and 3).

As best shown in FIG. 3, each of the side enclosure walls is formed to have one vertical edge provided with a flange portion 28 which, during assembly, overlaps the opposite vertical edge 30 of the next succeeding sidewall. Preferably, after assembly, such side enclosure walls may be welded to each other in order to thereby define a single unitized wall assembly.

A perforated basketlike assembly 32 having sidewalls, 34, 36, 38 and 40 along with a similarly perforated floor or base panel 42, is situated within the chamber defined by side enclosure walls 20, 22, 24 and 26.

Preferably, each of the sidewalls 34, 36, 38 and 40 or the basket assembly 32 are formed as separate panels having a plurality of horizontally spaced vertically extending bars or rods 44 suitably secured or joined to a plurality of vertically spaced horizontally extending bars or rods 46 as typically illustrated, in enlarged scale, in FIG. 4. As further typically illustrated in enlarged scale in FIG. 5, the ends of each of the horizontal rods 46 are formed so as to be of a generally hooklike portion 48. Accordingly, when the sidewalls are brought into assembled relationship the hooklike portions 48 are brought into position so as to somewhat project beyond the general plane of the sidewalls (as walls 34 and 36 of FIG. 5) thereby forming a generally cylindrical passageway therebetween for the reception therein of a vertical corner post 50. Once the corner post is inserted, the two cooperating sidewalls are locked into position. Accordingly, comer posts 50, 52, 54 and 56 are employed, as illustrated in FIG. 3, to maintain side walls 34, 36, 38 and 40 into an assembly which provides gridlike walls which, as will be seen, provides for the passage of air therethrough.

Similarly, lower basket floor 42 is formed of a first plurality of spaced bars 58 and a second plurality of spaced bars 60 of spaced bars 58 and a second plurality of spaced bars 60 positioned in intersecting relationship so as to form a grid pattern with openings between the rods which may be retained in the position shown by mechanical interweaving, welding or soldering to each other. As illustrated in both FIGS. 2 and 3, each of the rods 58 and 60 is provided with projecting ends 62 which are inserted through the gridlike openings of the sidewalls 34, 36, 38 and 40 so as to extend beyond the sidewall horizontal bars 46. The lower floor 42 is then permitted to rest atop the bars 46 so as to be vertically supported thereby.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the interior of the gridlike container 32 is provided with a layer of gas permeable filter material 64 which may be situated so as to have the upper portion 66 thereof wrapped over the upper edge 68 of the inner sidewalls 34, 36, 38 and 40. The outer enclosure walls and the inner grid walls are of such relative heights as to enable the cover 14 to serve as a clamp to hold the upper portion 66 of the filter 64 against the upper edge 68 of the basket or grid assembly 32 when the cover 14 is assembled thereto.

As shown in FIGS. I, 2 and 3, the pan 12 has upwardly extending sidewalls 70, 72, 74 and 76, which are preferably welded to each other to form liquid scaled corners. At least two of such walls as, for example, 70 and 74 are provided with suitable apertures, near the upper end thereof, for the respective reception therein of hook portions 78 and 80 of rods 16 and 18. The cover 14 is similarly provided with downwardly depending wall portions peripherally thereabout, of which wall portions 82, 84 and 86 are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Tubular portions 88 and 90 are respectively secured, as by welding, to wall sections 82 and 86 in a manner so as to permit the free passage therethrough of the threaded upper ends of clamping rods 16 and 18. The extending threaded ends of rods 16 and 18 are then respectively threadably engaged by nuts 92 and 94 which are tightened against the upper ends of tubular members 88 and 90 in order to thereby clamp the cover 14 and lower pan 12 against the outer walls 20, 22, 24 and 26 and the inner basket 32 thereby holding such components in assembled relationship.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a blower assembly 96 including an outer housing 98 with an intake 100 is situated atop the cover 14 and suitably secured thereto as, for example, by welding so as to have the discharge portion or ductwork 102 in communication with an opening 104 formed through the cover 14. A pedestal 106, also carried by cover 14, supports an electric motor assembly 108 which is operatively connected to the blower or fan within the blower housing 98 in a manner well known in the art. A control switch assembly 110, mounted on the pedestal 106, receives electrical current as through suitable electrical conductor means 112.

As can best be seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, a chamber or manifold 114 is defined generally between the interior of the outer walls 20, 22, 24 and 26 and the exterior of the gridlike walls 34, 36, 38 and 40 and such mainfold or chamber is placed in communication with a loweredtype ventilator door assembly 116 situated within a cooperating opening formed through wall 22. The door assembly 116 may be of the type well known in the art comprising a plurality pivotally mounted horizontal slats 118, 120 and 122 interconnected by a bar 124 to work as a gang. That is, when the pressure within chamber 114 is greater than the air pressure external of the assembly 10, the lowers or slats 118, 120 and 122 will open whereas when the internal and external pressures are equal, gravity serves to close the slats.

OPERATION OF THE INVENTION Since one of the features of the air cleaning assembly is its portability, it can be moved to any desired area within, for example, a factory employing metal cutting or finishing machine tools and in such location have its electrical conductor 112, which may be provided with a conventional male-type plug, connected to a suitable source of electrical potential. As shown, the intake 100 is preferably of a cylindrical configuration permitting the rapid connection thereto, if desired, of a flexible elongated hose extension thereby enabling the positioning of the other open end of such a hose in relatively close proximity to the workpiece within the metal cutting or finishing machine tool.

For example, where the workpiece is held within a center grinding machine, it is accepted practice to provide a flow of coolant (often containing a soluble oil) directed against the workpiece in order to generally flood the workpiece thereby cooling the workpiece and the grinding wheel. In such operations the speed of rotation of the workpiece and the grinding wheel is sufficiently high to cause a substantial spray or mist to exist about the grinding machine, and because of air currents within the factory, to flow to other adjoining areas. The spray or mist thereby caused, contains contaminates such as minute particles of soluble oil and metal removed from the workpiece by the grinding wheel. Such mists not only settle on the machine tools causing the machines to become gummedup but also cause a serious health problem in that the personnel within such areas must breathe such contaminant-carrying mists.

Accordingly, if the intake 100 of air cleaning assembly 10 were placed in communication with such mist producing areas and the motor 108 energized, the blower within blower assembly 96 would cause a flow of such mist into the intake 100 and then discharged through duct-work 102 and opening 104 into the interior of the chamber 128 defined generally by cover 14 and the walls of filter material 64. Since the filter material 64 is gas permeable, the mist would be forced against the filter walls causing the contaminants within the mist to be trapped by and deposited on the filter walls while the cleaned air would pass through the filter walls and be returned to atmosphere within the factory work area.

In the preferred embodiment of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the cleaned air, after passing through the filter walls 64 would emerge into the manifold or plenum chamber 114 from where it would exit through the ventilator door assembly 116 into the atmosphere. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a drain valve assembly 126 is preferably provided through wall 70 of the lower pan assembly 12 in order to be able to drain therethrough such oil as may accumulate within the pan 12. That is, after extended use, the oil which is trapped by and deposited upon the filter walls 64 will tend to run down the walls and, in the fonn of droplets be deposited upon the interior of pan 12. Accordingly, drain valve 126 is provided in order to at least at intervals, eliminate such accumulated oil without the necessity of disassembling the air cleaner assembly 10.

As fragmentarily illustrated in FIG 6, the lower grid base 42 may be provided with a layer of filter material 64a, separate from the filter walls 64, so as to thereby require all of the mist which may flow through the lower grid 42 to be filtered through the layer 640. The provision of such a separate layer 64a is of an additional benefit in that it permits the replacement thereof without the necessity of replacing all of the wall filter material 64. It is probable that where the mist is heavily laden with oil or other particles, because of their greater mass and momentum, such oil and particles will tend to be deposited on the lower layer 6411 at a faster rate than on the filter walls 64.

FIG. 7, among other things, illustrates another form of filter means employable by the invention. As illustrated, the filter 64b may be comprised of sidewall portions 65 and a bottom end wall 67 integrally joined to each other to form a filter bag with the open top thereof hung over the top edge of the grid basket 32. Additionally, FIG. 7 also illustrates a further modification comprised of employing a plurality of grid plates 130, 132 and 134, similar in form and configuration to bottom plate 42, situated within the chamber 128 and respectively carrying layers of filter material 136, 138 and 140. The purpose of such angularly placed plates 130, 132 and 134 along with filters I36, 138 and 140 is to provide baffle means for slowing the downward velocity of the mist as it is pumped into chamber 128 from duct-work 102 and to absorb or deposit some of the oil or other contaminates on the filter layers 136, 138 and 140 thereby further extending the useful life of the filter material placed against the walls and bottom of the grid or wire basket 32.

In view of the preceding it should be apparent that the invention provides a low cost self-contained air cleaning apparatus which is highly effective for removing contaminants from indoor air without the need for special air ducts. Attendant features of the invention also include the increases in production efficiency by keeping tools and machines free from the accumulation of surface oil deposits and resulting gumming, as well as reducing the cost of maintaining a particular level of cleanliness throughout the production facility. Further, being self-contained and portable, the air cleaning apparatus of the invention can be placed near any particular machine or group of machines which create an oil-mist problem, or the apparatus may, in fact, be mounted on a wall or suspended from the ceiling without any major expenditures for such installations.

Although only selected embodiments of the invention have been disclosed and described, it is apparent that other embodiments and modifications of the invention are possible within the scope of the appended claims.

Iclaim:

1. An air cleaning apparatus, comprising, a housing including generally vertically directed sidewall portions, a plurality of apertures formed through said sidewall portions, gaspermeable filter means situated within said housing generally against the inner surface of said sidewall portions and defining an internal chamber, a cover situated atop said housing and including an inlet aperture for communication with said internal chamber, a blower assembly carried by said cover and having an intake end and a discharge end, said discharge end being placed in communication with said inlet aperture and said intake end being exposed to an atmosphere to be cleaned of contaminates, and detachable fastening means operatively connected to said housing and said cover for maintaining said housing and said cover in assembled relationship, said housing and sidewall portions comprising a gridlike container including a lower perforated plate portion contained between said sidewall portions, an outer second wall circumscribing said gridlike container and spaced therefrom, a plenumlike chamber defined generally between said gridlike container and said outer second wall, and a lower pan member situated beneath said sidewall portions and said outer second wall so as to generally form a lower end closure wall of said plenumlike chamber, said cover extending over said outer second wall so as to generally form an upper end closure wall of said plenumlike chamber, and said fastening means being effective to maintain said outer second wall in assembled relationship to cover and lower pan member.

2. An air cleaning apparatus, comprising a housing including generally vertically directed side wall portions, a plurality of apertures formed through said sidewall portions, gasperrneable filter means situated within said housing generally against the inner surface of said sidewall portions and defining an internal chamber, a cover situated atop said housing and including an inlet aperture for communication with said internal chamber, a blower assembly carried by said cover and having an intake end and a discharge end, said discharge end being placed in communication with said inlet aperture and said intake end being exposed to an atmosphere to be cleaned of contaminates, and detachable fastening means operatively connected to said housing and said cover for maintaining said housing and said cover in assembled relationship, said housing and side wall portions comprising a gridlike container including a lower perforated plate portion contained between said sidewall portions, an outer second wall circumscribing said gridlike container and spaced therefrom, a plenum-like chamber defined generally between said gridlike container and outer second wall, said gas-permeable filter means extending across said lower perforated plate portion and including upper portions lying over the upper. edges of said gridlike container sidewall portions, and a lower pan member situated beneath said sidewall portions and said outer second wall so as to generally form a lower end closure wall of said plenumlike chamber, said cover operatively clamping said filter upper portions against said gridlike container sidewall portions and extending over said outer second wall so as to generally form an upper end closure wall of said plenumlike chamber, and said fastening means being effective to maintain said outer second wall clamped and in assembled relationship between said cover and lower pan member.

3. An air cleaning apparatus according to claim 2, including passage means formed through said outer second wall for at times communicating between said plenumlike chamber and the atmosphere exterior of said outer second wall, and pressure responsive door means situated within said passage means, said door means being opened whenever the pressure within said plenumlike chamber exceeds the pressure of said atmosphere exterior of said outer second wall.

4. An air cleaning apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said sidewall portions comprise a plurality of gridlike sidewalls detachably joined to each other in end-to-end relationship, and wherein said outer second wall comprises a plurality of outer wall panels each having a vertically extending flange portion for abutably engaging a vertically extending edge of the next succeeding wall page] 

1. An air cleaning apparatus, comprising, a housing including generally vertically directed sidewall portions, a plurality of apertures formed through said sidewall portions, gas-permeable filter means situated within said housing generally against the inner surface of said sidewall portions and defining an internal chamber, a cover situated atop said housing and including an inlet aperture for communication with said internal chamber, a blower assembly carried by said cover and having an intake end and a discharge end, said discharge end being placed in communication with said inlet aperture and said intake end being exposed to an atmosphere to be cleaned of contaminates, and detachable fastening means operatively connected to said housing and said cover for maintaining said housing and said cover in assembled relationship, said housing and sidewall portions comprising a gridlike container including a lower perforated plate portion contained between said sidewall portions, an outer second wall circumscribing said gridlike container and spaced therefrom, a plenumlike chamber defined generally between said gridlike container and said outer second wall, and a lower pan member situated beneath said sidewall portions and said outer second wall so as to generally form a lower end closure wall of said plenumlike chamber, said cover extending over said outer second wall so as to generally form an upper end closure wall of said plenumlike chamber, and said fastening means being effective to maintain said outer second wall in assembled relationship to cover and lower pan member.
 2. An air cleaning apparatus, comprising a housing including generally vertically directed side wall portions, a plurality of apertures formed through said sidewall portions, gas-permeable filter means situated within said housing generally against the inner surface of said sidewall portions and defining an internal chamber, a cover situated atop said housing and including an inlet aperture for communication with said internal chamber, a blower assembly carried by said cover and having an intake end and a discharge end, said discharge end being placed in communication with said inlet aperture and said intake end being exposed to an atmosphere to be cleaned of contaminates, and detachable fastening means operatively connected to said housing and said cover for maintaining said housing and said cover in assembled relationship, said housing and side wall portions comprising a gridlike container including a lower perforated plate portion cOntained between said sidewall portions, an outer second wall circumscribing said gridlike container and spaced therefrom, a plenum-like chamber defined generally between said gridlike container and outer second wall, said gas-permeable filter means extending across said lower perforated plate portion and including upper portions lying over the upper edges of said gridlike container sidewall portions, and a lower pan member situated beneath said sidewall portions and said outer second wall so as to generally form a lower end closure wall of said plenumlike chamber, said cover operatively clamping said filter upper portions against said gridlike container sidewall portions and extending over said outer second wall so as to generally form an upper end closure wall of said plenumlike chamber, and said fastening means being effective to maintain said outer second wall clamped and in assembled relationship between said cover and lower pan member.
 3. An air cleaning apparatus according to claim 2, including passage means formed through said outer second wall for at times communicating between said plenumlike chamber and the atmosphere exterior of said outer second wall, and pressure responsive door means situated within said passage means, said door means being opened whenever the pressure within said plenumlike chamber exceeds the pressure of said atmosphere exterior of said outer second wall.
 4. An air cleaning apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said sidewall portions comprise a plurality of gridlike sidewalls detachably joined to each other in end-to-end relationship, and wherein said outer second wall comprises a plurality of outer wall panels each having a vertically extending flange portion for abutably engaging a vertically extending edge of the next succeeding wall panel. 